Angels and their Guardians
by Carnivalgirl
Summary: AU, RLNT. Remus and Tonks face difficulty when their daughter is diagnosed as a Squib, especially when they have to send her to Muggle school. But though they can take the girl out of the wizarding world, can they take the wizarding world out of the girl?
1. Part One

**A/N:** This fic is set in 2008 and was originally intended to be published before Christmas, but it barely got finished in time. It was entered in the livejournal community metamorfic_moon's Pink Advent Challenge and has been beta-read by the wonderful **kt_tonguetied**, **merryb87**, and **ladyofthelight101**. Thank you to all of them, and to any readers and reviewers! The second part of this will be posted tomorrow. Remus and Tonks's AU daughter, Olivia, who stars in this fic, was 'born' in Chapter Nineteen of **More Diverse Adventures of Remus and Tonks**.

**Some British facts to prevent confusion:** Primary school is the first level of school and goes from ages 5 to 11 (Year One to Year Six). The SATs are exams in English, Maths and Science which children take at the ages of seven, eleven and fourteen. C of E stands for Church of England, though Norwich C of E Primary School is entirely fictional, if Google is to be trusted. "Am I bovvered?" was a popular catchphrase from a comedy sketch show called 'The Catherine Tate Show' (Yep, Doctor Who's Catherine Tate). It's very 2007, but oh well.

'Shankar' comes from the Hindi 'Shankara' meaning 'lucky'

**Angels (and their Guardians)**

**Part One (Summer 2008, prompts not included)**

2008 was an uneasy year for the Lupin family. On Sunday the twenty-second of June, Remus and Tonks's daughter Olivia turned seven, and they, along with Teddy (who was ten), spent most of the day having a picnic and playing games in the garden. On Monday the twenty-third, they spent the day in an office at the Ministry of Magic, where, having completed seven years of her life without doing any magic, Olivia was officially declared a Squib.

Though they were by no means prejudiced it was very difficult for Remus, Tonks and Teddy not to be disappointed. All three of them, along with Andromeda and Harry, had done everything they could over the past few years to bring out a burst of magic from her, but now it was medically confirmed that she was not really a meek little witch but an ordinary little Squib. How was she going to cope with being cut off from the world she knew and loved? It was painful for them even to think about it.

But Remus and Tonks were optimistic, and offered hug after hug and shoulder after shoulder for her to cry on as they were told she could get an under-ten's discount for Kwikspell, and when, at home, she couldn't play with the 'Magic Touch Baby' doll she had been given for her birthday. Teddy, uncharacteristically, didn't even whisper the word 'Hogwarts' around her even though he was very excited about going next year. What was worse than all of this, however, was the fact that;

"She will have to go to a Muggle Primary School."

Remus and Tonks had been very glad the children weren't around when the Under-secretary had said this, because it would have made them shriek. It was during one of their regular appointments at the Office of Squib Development, which, while they attempted to be positive, were often more depressing than helpful.

"Does she really have to?" Tonks had asked. "I mean, my husband has been teaching her at home for the past two years along with her brother. It's good, and it's what she's used to. She has a lot to deal with at the moment; it'd be nice if something could stay the same for her."

"Mrs Lupin, how is she supposed to fit in with the Muggle world later in life if she is not educated in it? I am sorry, I know how difficult this must be for you, but Muggle school really is an important step in a Squib's educational progress."

Tonks looked at Remus. He had hardly said a word up to this point. Selfish as it was, he felt he would miss teaching Olivia, and he knew she would miss learning from him. However, she was the one that mattered.

"We understand," he said, letting his hand drift towards Tonks'. "She can go to the one down the road from us."

Norwich Primary School was the most perfectly ordinary school, and so it was quite adorable. When they looked around in July they were enchanted (though perhaps that wasn't the best word to use) by the balanced curriculum of numeracy, literacy, science, humanities, music, art, PE and even modern languages. While Tonks was very impressed with the basic French lessons for Year Two upwards, Remus was delighted with Class Ten's display on Roman mythology. It was decided that Olivia Lupin would join Year Three (specifically the new Class Ten) in September. The school had been slightly concerned about her previous home education, especially since she hadn't done her Key Stage Two SATs. However, she finished them with top-level marks, and they celebrated in a little party at home over Butterbeer and sponge cake with twinkling icing.

"I bet Icould do it too, Gran." Teddy insisted.

"Of course you could, my darling." Andromeda had told him as she offered him more cake. "You've got the very best teacher, after all."

"Which we all already knew," Harry added, and Tonks high-fived him for it whilst giving Remus a loving look. Ron, Hermione and Ginny chinked their Butterbeers together for about the fourth time that afternoon. Little James, Albus and Rose chased each other around the room and got into the chocolate supply. Indeed, the only person who didn't seem to be happy was Olivia herself, who spent nearly all of the party attached to her now former teacher.

"Daddy, if I had failed the Muggle test would I get to stay here?" she asked him quietly.

"Oh, you don't really want to stay here," Remus said, quietly. "It's…"

He looked around. Tonks, Teddy, Andromeda, Harry and all of the others on a sunny day with cake and Butterbeer…he could never persuade her.

"…Well, at least we've got our summer together."

*

As was to be expected August was a very difficult month for everyone, even when they took their usual seaside holiday. The Knight Bus was always hot and packed on summer mornings and though Teddy and Olivia were given seats Tonks and Remus had to stand up and be uncomfortably close to strangers and their conversations. Attempting to balance when her T-shirt was sticking to her back and her arms were aching was not Tonks's idea of fun to say the least, and she came dangerously close to snapping when the following was said almost in her ear by someone in a conversation behind her;

"Yeah, I think with Squib kids the best thing would be to let them go in a home. They'd be better off with Muggles and let's face it; no one wants to be saddled with a child like that."

Remus, fortunately, acted extremely quickly on seeing his wife's face contort with anger and elbowed her in the back, pushing her forward but saving the stranger from a potentially severe hexing. This calmed Tonks down, but for the rest of the day they barely spoke together without Teddy or Olivia in the conversation.

That night, once the children were tucked up in bed and they were alone in their bedroom at the bed-and-breakfast, she rounded on him.

"You're too bloody passive sometimes Remus! I know you're a gentleman, and I do love you for it, but I _will not _be made to stand by quietly while some _twat _insults my daughter in my _goddamn_ ear!"

Remus looked at her sceptically; "Yes, I'm sure if a Ministry employee…"

"I'm _off duty_."

"…if a Ministry employee hexed a stranger on a public bus it wouldn't cause even the tiniest of scenes. Oh no."

Tonks placed a hand over her face and sighed. She sat down heavily next to him but made no attempt at physical contact, nor did she start to get ready for bed. Even though it had been a long day and she didn't want to start the holiday by quarrelling with Remus she felt she had to say what she thought;

"I didn't think you were the sort of person who would want to let prejudice slide, Remus."

She watched his reaction out of the corner of her eye. To her surprise, he didn't look affronted, or even slightly annoyed. In fact he sighed in just the same heavy fashion as she did, and said;

"Dora, listen to this for a moment. What happened today was something that happens occasionally. Thirty years ago you could hardly go into public without hearing something like it. When I was seven years old, I saw my dad Muggle duel with a wizard for the first and only time in my life. I think we were at the park. The man had said something like 'Werewolves ought to be put down' – I can't even remember if he was talking to my dad or someone else. The point is, he ended up with a bloody nose and would've gotten more if someone hadn't stepped in. Do you know what I made of that?"

"You probably thought it was awful, because you were a little saint." Tonks muttered.

"Actually, I thought it was brilliant. When we got home I asked my dad to teach me how to box so I could defend myself in the future. You should have seen my mum's face - I don't think my dad ever lost his temper in public again after she'd dealt with him."

"…So I should step back and keep smiling, is that what you're telling me?" she said.

Remus groaned. "No, Dora. I'm trying to _remind_ you that you have a son who idolises you. Teddy even says 'Wotcher' like you, despite the fact he was brought up in Norwich. If you start abusing strangers who insult Squibs, _as you were going to do this morning_, Teddy is going to think he should do exactly the same thing. And children his age aren't prejudiced, they just do not understand. Would you be proud if he started threatening to punch them?"

Tonks was speechless for a moment. Tears came to her eyes.

"Oh, Merlin…" she said, "I didn't think about him. You're right, he copies me all the time...I just get so caught up thinking about poor Livvy sometimes I forget about what he thinks. Oh my God, I'm a terrible mother."

"You are not," Remus assured her. "You just love them both so much you get a bit carried away once in a while. Besides, you probably weren't the only one who would've hexed that man back to last century if the circumstances were a bit different."

She sniffed. "Thank you. I just want her to have a great life, you know, better than our generation had. And I don't like anyone standing in the way of that when she's got enough to go through as it is…"

"She _will_ have a great life," he told her, wrapping his arms around her. "She's a bright little girl, and I'm sure she's going to amaze us all, even if she doesn't grow up to be a Healer. Anyway…we're on holiday, we should be enjoying ourselves, shouldn't we?"

Tonks placed her hands over his arms and let herself lean back. He was very warm.

"Did I bruise you earlier? I'm sorry," he said gently.

"Mmmm…maybe. You'll have to check," she told him, the corners of her mouth rising slowly. "And if there is one, you'll have to give me a massage to get rid of it."

He lifted her T-shirt and peeked at her back. "No bruise. Do you want a massage anyway?"

She almost purred as she felt his hands go up her back. "Ooh, yeah…let's end all arguments like this."

"Agreed," he said, planting a kiss on her neck. "Now…this T-shirt is going to have to get out of the way…"

*

Teddy's actual opinion on the whole thing was hard for his parents to work out. It seemed he had gone into denial. Part of it was his grandmother's fault ("Surely there must be some magic in her, or she wouldn't respond to potions?" "No, _Mother_…") though much of it was some serious dedication that was almost certainly genetic. One night the house was unusually quiet, and Tonks went upstairs to look for the children, worried that Olivia was having another cry in her room.

"Olivia? Livvy? Sausage? Sozz? Sozz, it's Mummy, where are you sweetheart..."

Suddenly, she heard voices coming from Teddy's bedroom.

"Think harder! Think about it floating!"

"Teddy, I'm sleepy!"

"Do you want to be a witch or not?"

Tonks opened the door slowly to see Olivia sat on a cushion staring very, very hard at Teddy's stuffed dragon, which she must have been trying to levitate telepathically. Even her mother couldn't do that, but Teddy, who was stood by her looking very mature and authoritative, believed she could.

"Teddy, Livvy, I'm afraid that dragon's not going to move. It's very hard to move things without wands you know."

"Dad can do it."

"Dad's been doing magic for a very long time, and you..." She didn't know how to finish the sentence, "aren't ready for that yet."

"Mum, I think she can do it," Ted insisted, giving her a defiant look, which reminded Tonks uncannily of herself at that age. Perhaps they needed a chat.

"Livvy, go and get into your pyjamas, it's nearly bedtime."

She walked out of the room, and Tonks walked over to Teddy and crouched to his level.

"Teddy, she's not going to do magic, no matter how hard she tries. You have to understand that."

"She is going to! She _has_ to!"

Tonks was about to give him a stern reminder of everything she and Remus had told him about accepting Squibs, but she halted when she saw that his eyes were filled with tears.

"Why can't she do magic, Mum? What's wrong with her? What did you and Dad do?"

"...I don't think anybody really knows why some people are Squibs, Teddy, any more than why some people are wizards or Muggles." Tonks said gently, running her hand through his colourful hair. "I think people are just born with magic and some aren't. Dad and I didn't do anything different when she was born, it just happened by chance. And there isn't a lot we can do to change things, so we have to love her just the same."

"But...she can't be the same any more! _Nothing's_ the same!"

She wrapped her arms around him and let him cry. "I know, I know. It's OK...we'll get used to it, I promise."

After he had let out a few sobs, he asked without lifting his head from her shoulder; "Do you ever wish she wasn't a Squib, Mummy?"

Her heart was touched-he hadn't called her 'Mummy' for two years. The question, however, was more important; yes, she and Remus did, in a way, wish she was a witch, if only so she could fit in with the world she had grown up in. And yet…

"…If she wasn't a Squib, she wouldn't be our Livvy, and I want to love our Livvy, however she is," Tonks told him. "Do you?"

"I love her," he said, a little reluctantly, "and-and I'm not going to stop loving her. But I'm not going to stop teaching her either."

She hugged him a little more tightly; "OK. But be nice to her. Copy Dad."

Teddy did try his best to be nice, and copy his dad, and Remus and Tonks saw no harm in allowing the lessons to continue as long as Olivia was willing to have them. However, the night before she had to start at the school, the lesson ended with a crash and a bang on the floor and two very upset children. It wasn't until they had had some hot chocolate and a bedtime story from Remus that they both settled down for the night.

The next morning the four of them had walked to the heavy iron gates at the front of the school. Though the gates were painted in a lovely shade of blue and the walls had painted faces on, the intimidation on Olivia's face was clear to see. Tonks had gotten a lump in her throat herself when she had tried to tell her on the way that she was _really, really ill _and couldn't _possibly _go to school even if she had managed (more) hot chocolate and a full bowl of Golden Honey Snitches at breakfast. It was no good. She walked very slowly and morosely into school, even after her parents had given her the most loving hug they possibly could, and Teddy had placed his favourite baseball cap on her head.


	2. Part Two

**Part Two**

Over the next few months, the unexpected happened, but in the most positive way. Olivia settled very quickly into Norwich Primary School. She found a group of little friends who never came to the house without less than a day's notice. At Halloween she had very maturely restrained herself from telling everyone that her mummy was a witch and her daddy was a werewolf (though nobody would have believed her anyway), and she loved her lessons, especially Science and French. Over time, it was clear and very satisfying to see she was becoming fluent in a culture and language that was still more alien and weird than anything her family had experienced. "Am I bovvered?" was _highly immature_ (that was Dawlish's opinion, after Tonks tried it out), nobody knew who "Troy and Gabriella" were (or why they sung all the time), and some things just made no sense (these were usually the ones Teddy took up);

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"

"SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"

"Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!"

"SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"

"And I thought 'I am the Walrus' was psychedelic…" Remus had said.

Tonks had giggled. "Love, you're showing your age again."

Tonks and Remus themselves knew they attracted some attention from the other parents, though hopefully not too much suspicion. Recently, Tonks had been approached by the mother of Olivia's friend Emily after school. She was a far more mumsy-looking mum and had eyed Tonks's bright purple hair with a little unease.

"Emily was hoping Olivia could come with us to see the new 'Madagascar' film on the last day of school. Can she?"

"Hang on…you want Olivia to come to _Madagascar _with you? For how long?"

What Olivia loved most though, more than Science or Spongebob or her friends, was her teacher, Mr Shankar. He was young, intelligent, athletic and caring, and he was Olivia's hero. Remus would often overhear her gushing to Tonks about something he said or did in class.

"He said he's going to bring chocolate in for everyone at the end of school, and we're going to play games and make Christmas cards!" She exclaimed this once while they were painting, so excitedly she almost knocked the water over.

"He sounds wonderful."

"He _is _wonderful! Teddy says I _love_ him, but he doesn't understand like you do, Mummy. He's the best teacher in the world!"

"What about Daddy? I thought he was your favourite teacher."

"Dad's _old_. Mr S is way cooler. When you meet him you'll see."

Remus thought it was also strange how she always talked to Tonks, not him, as if she didn't think he'd be interested in her learning any more now he was just her old dad. Whether he was or he wasn't interested, though, he would soon find out how she was getting on as they were meeting Mr Shankar one afternoon in the week of the end of term, a few hours before Olivia's performance as an angel in the school Nativity play.

"I'm really looking forward to meeting Mr S," Tonks said the night before as they were going to bed. "He sounds like quite a teacher."

"There's also, you know, finding out about Olivia…" Remus reminded her.

"Oh, of course," she agreed eagerly. "Knowing her, she'll have done brilliantly. She's going to be a…what's a Muggle Healer called? ...doctor!"

Remus nodded seriously, and she immediately noticed his lack of enthusiasm. "You seem a little miserable. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing's bothering me."

"Was it the whole thing about the lines?" she asked.

Remus had offered to go through Olivia's song with her that evening, but she had, in a disturbingly mature manner, told him that he probably wouldn't understand, and Mr Shankar was going to help her rehearse in the morning anyway.

Remus did not reply, and Tonks got a cheeky look in her eyes. "You're jealous, aren't you?"

"Jealous? Of what?"

"She's got a new hero."

Remus scoffed. "Oh, really! Firstly, _Nymphadora_, I am not that petty. Secondly…while she may be growing up now, nobody's about to replace me. Regardless of how much she has embraced her new life, her opinion of her family is not going to change."

"OK, I'm sorry." Tonks said, but something in her expression said she didn't quite believe it. She crawled up him and put her head on his shoulder. "I suppose _I'll_ just have to take over as president of your fan club."

He smiled wolfishly. "And what will your first act of fannish devotion be?"

*

So, at four o'clock on the following afternoon, Remus, Tonks and the children (Teddy reluctantly sporting brown hair) walked through the school to meet Mr Shankar. There was tinsel everywhere and more than one Christmas tree, and many pictures of angels and reindeer by the pupils about the place. Even the school canteen looked festive.

"Oooh, Christmas dinner!" Tonks exclaimed, peering at the menu. "Hmm…you get turkey, and vegetables, and roast potatoes, and…what, no Christmas pudding? Pfft. They need to get some Hogwarts kitchen elves in, sharpish."

"Hey Dad, do you think the trifle's better than Mum's? It wouldn't take much…"

"Teddy! She tried her best, even if the custard was a little…frozen."

"How cheeky is your brother, Livvy? I don't know _where_ he gets it from…"

Mr Shankar was at his desk when they met him in the classroom. He was a lot like Remus had imagined him; he was tall and thin and very young-only the trace of a beard graced his chin and of course there was not a grey hair in sight. He greeted them all very warmly.

"Welcome, welcome. I've looked forward to meeting you all!"

"We've looked forward to meeting you, too." Tonks said sweetly, which made Remus feel a little unreasonably tense.

He invited them all to sit down, politely dashing off to get chairs for the children and books for them to look over while they were waiting. His desk was very professionally arranged (though the chocolates were probably in one of the drawers) and stood next to a locked cupboard which might have contained art supplies or science equipment. There was a chart with numbers one to twenty in French and a row of plants on the windowsill. In the window one had a view of the car park and the blue school gates, which were only half-open.

"So," Mr Shankar began, picking up his notebook. "It's been an excellent year so far, would you agree, Olivia?"

"Yes, I would," Olivia said enthusiastically, looking up from a book to give him a confident, dazzling smile. Remus almost raised his eyebrows-was this his shy little girl?

"She's done very well in her lessons," he told her parents. "She loves her Science, and she's contributed excellently to our project about the Romans."

"Oh, yes, she knows her Romans." Remus said proudly.

"It took her a little while to gain confidence about putting her hand up-I suppose coming from home school it's not something she's used to-but she's definitely getting better at it. She's also a very good little French speaker, though she wouldn't try any Brie!"

All this time Tonks was nodding enthusiastically, and looking happier and happier. She, much like her daughter, was hanging on every word Mr Shankar said. Remus, despite his insecurities, also began to feel very happy with what was being said. He took a brief glance at Teddy, who, while hiding his face in a book, did _not _seem to be reading it.

"The only things I'm concerned about are Maths and PE. Maths isn't something she's taking to-she doesn't quite understand fractions, for example, and PE has been very difficult," He lowered his voice. "…the other children haven't helped there. But my hope is that she'll enjoy it more as she really settles in to the school."

"PE, is that like, sports? She takes after me there, poor thing." Tonks said.

"And me," Remus admitted. "Bad sporting genes, unfortunately."

"…So she's not special then?" Teddy suddenly asked. Tonks and Remus were shocked out of their skins, and neither of them knew what to say. Someone had obviously been saying these things to Teddy, but he hadn't mentioned them before now.

"Pardon?" Mr Shankar said politely.

"You know…" Teddy said, "_special_."

"Um," The teacher looked rather shocked and flustered. "No, no, she doesn't seem to have any-any special needs that I've seen, is there…" He turned his gaze to Remus and Tonks apprehensively. "…anything I should know about?"

_Oh, there's a lot to know about,_ Remus thought, but Tonks responded awkwardly;

"Er…Olivia was a late bloomer, put it that way. Some people we know started, well, making judgements, and of course Teddy here picked up on it…"

"Well, Teddy," Mr Shankar said kindly, "I can tell you that from what I've seen of your sister she seems to be completely normal, in fact better than normal, because she's very clever."

Teddy beamed. "Wicked."

"There was something else I needed to tell you as well," Mr Shankar added, "before Olivia's performance tonight. The problem is, she…"

Suddenly, there was a very loud noise, like that of a car horn, only repetitive. Remus's hands leapt to his sensitive ears, while Tonks gripped the sides of her chair.

"Oh my God, is the building on fire?"

"No, it sounds like a car alarm…" Mr Shankar said, and looked out the window. With a cry he leapt to his feet, his chair falling over with a loud bang.

"JESUS CHRIST! My car's being stolen!"

Surely enough, outside there was someone leaping in to a small white car. The alarm ceased as the thief slammed the door and began to turn the car around.

Mr Shankar reached for something in his bag. "I'm calling the police."

Time seemed to slow down as no one in the family knew what to do. All they could do was stand and watch the stolen vehicle head towards the gates. Teddy and Olivia, having never seen crime in front of their eyes before, were both very upset.

"Can't someone go and shut the gates?" Teddy asked, worriedly.

"No one can move that quickly, Teddy." Remus told him, with a tone that reminded him of their unfortunate obligations not to interfere with Muggle affairs.

Olivia was almost in tears, and Tonks wanted to hug her even though she wasn't the one who really needed comforting. It hurt her heart to see her little girl witnessing such flagrant crime, especially when it was happening to her hero.

"Please don't steal Mr Shankar's car," she said quietly, as if she could appeal to the conscience of whatever lout was stealing a primary school teacher's car. Her voice was very small and meek; it was such a total contrast to the confidence she had displayed earlier that Remus felt as if the Olivia _he_ had taught was suddenly coming back. He didn't have much time to think though, as the car was approaching the road.

"_Please_."

A split second after Olivia said this, something incredible happened. Both of the front gates became loose from their hinges, and crashed down onto the bonnet of the car. One could hear the driver struggling to go forward, but the gates were too heavy to budge. The car was stuck, and the thief had to escape. Tonks tapped Mr Shankar on the shoulder; he had been sitting with his hands over his face since he finished the telephone call.

The man stood and gaped at the sight for quite a long while. "How the heck did that happen?" he said, almost laughing incredulously.

"It's like magic," Teddy said, looking at his parents warily for a reaction. However, Tonks and Remus were exchanging looks of pure joy, as it occurred to them just what had happened.

"I'd best go out and meet the police," Mr Shankar said, still laughing, as he headed out of the room. "I'm sorry to end our meeting so abruptly; it was really good to see you. I hope you'll be there tonight!"

Remus called back; "We will! Thank you very much!" when he felt something weighing on him. For the first time in quite a few weeks, Olivia was hugging him tightly.

"_You_ did that, didn't you, Daddy?"

"I think I'd know if I had." Remus told her, his heart just about bursting with love for her. "I think _you_ did that, sweetheart."

Olivia stared for a moment, then screamed excitedly and threw herself into his arms. He lifted her up in a hug and looked into her big, dark, smiling eyes, but he had to let her down quickly as Tonks and Teddy were almost skipping out of the room.

"I told you she could do it!" Teddy insisted to his parents, who nodded sincerely. He strode confidently next to Olivia, who was holding on to Remus's hand. While the two of them chatted enthusiastically about their 'lessons' (which were now a combination of magic and Muggle Pop Culture) Tonks and Remus slipped their arms around each other.

"Thank you," Tonks whispered to Remus, before giving him a kiss when the children's heads were turned.

"What for? I assure you it was all her," he said, honestly.

"Because without you," she said, "I wouldn't have _them_."

*

Three hours later, Remus, Tonks, Teddy and Andromeda were getting ready to watch Olivia's Nativity play, mince pies and hand-drawn programmes in hands. The Ministry had been very reluctant to let them go, but their little medical miracle would probably be there all weekend, so it was only fair that she had a little break for her artistic commitments-although all she wanted to do was to get her 'Magic Touch Baby' back out of the cupboard.

As the curtains opened with a ditty from the piano, Tonks was reminded of something.

"What do you think Mr Shankar was about to say earlier?"

Remus shrugged. "Oh, it was probably about her costume or something."

It was a cute and charming little production, with such gems as "Mary you is going to have a baby" and "There are no rooms in the inn". Tonks and Andromeda thought their singing was very sweet, and Remus liked their makeshift costumes and props (the Baby Jesus had little blonde pigtails). Teddy was more interested in the video camera the man in front was holding up.

In the second half, it was Olivia's time to shine. The shepherds were gathered around their (painted cardboard) fire, and she, the angel (with a tinsel halo and crepe paper wings), tiptoed on to give them the news of the newborn King.

"Don't be afraid! I have good news for you and for the world. The King God promised has been born in Bethlehem tonight. You will find him asleep in a manger."

Tonks smiled proudly to Remus, but he hadn't taken his eyes off of Olivia. She would, after all, have a solo to sing.

Suddenly, the piano started playing, and Olivia walked to the front of the stage and began to sing.

"_God rest ye merry _Hippogriffs_, let nothing ye dismay…"_

Tonks, who knew her son very well, placed her hand over Teddy's mouth with lightning speed. But he could hardly stop himself laughing, and neither she nor Remus could stop very wide grins from coming on to their faces. Even Andromeda couldn't help smiling; she hadn't expected a play from Muggle schoolchildren to remind her of her own childhood, and she looked forward to telling her friends about it at the Bridge Club Christmas dinner.

"I think our liaison with the Muggle world has come to a definite end," Remus said.

Tonks looked around at the wary faces of the other parents and began to wonder if some certain real angels they knew were watching from somewhere in heaven…and _laughing_ their halos off.

**A/N:** That's a wrap! Thank you very much for reading!


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